I Am SOOO Very Thankful

"Hey Wendy, what are you doing with that pumpkin? It's not Halloween anymore, it's Thanksgiving!"


Well, I'll tell you.

First I'm going to cut the top off and scoop out the seeds.

Ah, after all these years of holidays, the inside of a pumpkin is still a mysterious and wondrous thing.

Mango thinks so, too and doesn't quite trust it.

I found that using an ice cream scoop works really well for scooping out the seeds, but there's also something nice about sticking your hand up the ass of a pumpkin and just pulling the gunk out.

Now we're going to put some stuff in there and put the lid back on. (Those are chopped apples in the measuring cup.)


These next several steps may not apply to every kitchen, but I'll include them anyway:

1. Put the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and attempt to carefully jam it in the oven with your bare hands.
2. Wonder why it won't go in and what that funny, almost pleasant burning aroma is. (No, it's not me.)
3. Realize that the stem of the pumpkin is too big for the oven, and is getting caught on the heating coils.
4. Try moving the pan and pumpkin around to various places.
5. Curse profusely and grab some oven mitts.
6. Don't panic when you shove your hand in an oven mitt and realize a mouse has filled it with your bird's food pellets. Just tough it out - you can dump them out later.
7. Pull the pan out of the oven, slam the door, and run outside for the giant garden loppers.
8. Cut the hell out of the pumpkin stem, jam it in the oven, slam the door.
9. Pour bird pellets out of oven mitt.
10. Set timer.

Another helpful kitchen tip: Don't, in a fit of cleaning frenzy, put all your potholders in the laundry and THEN start cooking dinner. You might actually need those.

And here she is coming out of the oven. In a rare fit of intelligence, it occured to me to mark the top so I can put it back on correctly while checking for "doneness" in a hot oven.



A healthy dab (or three) of sour cream will top it off nicely.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm most thankful of all that each and every one of you is in my life, even if you're not here now to share my pumpkin casserole. I'm serving it again at Christmas so come on over if you want some!

(P.S. If anyone would like the recipe, just email me. I got it from one of those Church cookbooks and I don't know if the poor woman who submitted it would want her name and recipe posted on the internet.)